“Did you know that Duke Philippe d’Orléans (1674 – 1723), known as the Regent, was an accomplished musician who studied under Charpentier and Campras? Joined by a host of first-class soloists like Véronique Gens and Cyrille Dubois, Leonardo García Alarcón and his ensembles, the Chœur de Chambre de Namur and Cappella Mediterranea, are here to ensure that his music will not be forgotten.”
Judith Chaine for Télérama
In 1712, the king’s musicians performed a new opera in the Galerie des cerfs at Château Fontainebleau. The work was entitled La Jérusalem Délivrée. It was composed by a man who was second only to the king himself: Duke Philippe d’Orléans, the future Regent of France. D’Orléans was a talented musician who had studied under Charpentier and Campra. In 1700, he appointed Gervais as his Master of Music, and it was under the latter’s guidance that he composed three tragedies set to music, including JérusalemThe opera, also known as ” la suite d’Armide ” (the follow-up to Armide), features two familiar pairs of chivalrous heroes: Renaud and Armide from Lully’s Armide, and Tancrède and Herminie from Campra’s Tancrède. D’Orléans was not only a patron of the arts. He was truly a gifted composer. Now one of his major works can be rediscovered in this energetic interpretation by Leonardo García Alarcón, which features first-class soloists and the virtuoso Cappella Mediterranea.
La Jérusalem délivrée
Musique by Philippe d’Orléans (1674-1723) and Charles-Hubert Gervais (1671-1744) – Libretto by Hilaire-Bernard de Requeleyne, the Baron of Longepierre (1659-1731)
Inspired by Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata.
Opera with a prologue and five acts set to a libretto by Hilaire-Bernard Requeleyne that was inspired by Tasse’s La Gerusalemme liberata. First performed at Fontainebleau in 1704.
Marie Lys, soprano – Herminie
Véronique Gens, soprano – Armide
Gwendoline Blondeel, soprano – L’Occasion, La Voix de Clorinde, un Démon
Cyrille Dubois, tenor – Renaud
Nicholas Scott, tenor – Adraste, Alcaste, un Vieux Berger
Fabien Hyon, tenor – Vaffrin, un Guerrier
Victor Sicard, baritone – Tancrède
David Witczak, bass – Le Sage Vieillard, Ismen, Tissapherne
Chœur de Chambre de Namur
Cappella Mediterranea
Leonardo García AlarcónDirection
The programme was a coproduction of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles and Cappella Mediterranea
21h00
Château de Versailles - Grande salle des croisades
Versailles, France
20h00
Festival Musical de Namur, Namur Concert Hall
Namur, Belgium